CANBERRA – Telecommunications giant Optus has been fined $100 million for unconscionable conduct after an investigation found the company had been selling phones and plans to vulnerable First Nations customers who did not understand the contracts they were signing. Industry observers described the fine as “significant” and the business model as “Telstra’s but with a different logo.”
The ACCC investigation found that Optus sales staff in remote and regional areas had signed up First Nations customers to expensive plans and handsets without ensuring the customers understood the terms. In many cases customers who spoke English as a second or third language were locked into multi-year contracts for devices they did not want.
Telstra was previously fined $50 million for almost identical conduct in 2021. Optus has now doubled that fine suggesting either that the penalty regime is working or that companies have calculated the profit still exceeds the cost. Legal experts suspect the latter.
A spokesperson for Optus said the company “deeply regretted” the conduct and had “taken significant steps to ensure it does not happen again.” The company did not explain why those steps were not taken the first time a major telco was caught doing the same thing.
Consumer advocates noted the pattern was well established: large companies with aggressive sales targets send staff into remote communities where language barriers and financial literacy gaps create easy marks. The practice has been compared to shooting fish in a barrel except the fish end up on a 36-month plan for a phone they can’t return.
The ACCC confirmed it would “continue to hold companies to account” – a sentence that implies there is always another company to hold to account which rather proves the point.
First Nations legal services said the fine was welcome but would not help the customers who were already locked into debt. “You can’t eat a fine either,” said one advocate echoing a theme.
Discover more from I-News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
